Do You See The World in B&W?

A throne for your highness…

I am so sick of everybody’s anger. People blaming others, accusing, bashing, bullying, crying, complaining....(As I complain…). The truth is, I sympathize with most. Even the people I do not agree with. I have my own stances and opinions, but I hear them. I listen and expand my mind. I have causes that I support and share about. Beliefs that I feel are necessary for the positive progression of humanity…But I sometimes feel like I’m just contributing to this society where everyone thinks that because they have the platform to share, their opinion is the be all end all. Or because they are a certain race, gender, religion etc that their opinion matters more than someone else’s. And it’s gross. People preach about peace, about being open and listening to others, about rooting for the underdog and being a voice for those that lack it…but social media is making us all more divided than ever. Blanket statements are typed out as fact. This drives me absolutely nuts. People believe that a following, a like, a retweet, a share indicates a form of superiority. I am right. You’re wrong. Period end of story. Bye.

Meeting In the Middle

I wish people didn’t tell other people how to feel…Didn’t tell people what, when, where or how to talk about something that is on their minds. I find it infuriating that people don’t see the hate they spread while they try to protect something they believe in…Isn’t there a way to meet in the middle? Some sort of balance? Can’t you criticize a policy, an event, a person, a country…without making it a personal attack on someone or on a group of people? Why does everyone assume they know better? Isn’t there a way to actively listen, respect each other, and still share opposing thoughts? We might not fully understand one another, sometimes it’s impossible because you literally can’t walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. (Unless you’re the same shoe size, and this is like a movie about transporting yourself into someone else’s life every time you strap on their shoes…Like Mike anybody?)…Ok back to what I was saying…The point is, you can choose not to invalidate someone else. You can choose not to see someone as wrong or evil just because they don’t see what you see. You can instead say “I hear you, and I’m trying to understand”. Then speak your mind so that they can hopefully say they hear you too.

Educating One Another

We have to learn from each other. Most people are not born with a mind that understands everything. Because in order to understand everything, you’d have to live every possible life out there. And like we’ve already discussed, Like Mike is not a viable option. So we need to educate. And we need to do it in a way that doesn’t scare people off and build hate. For example, I had a high school Chemistry teacher that made me feel stupid every time I asked a question. So I stopped asking questions. Needless to say, I didn’t do very well in that class. I really disliked him and I really disliked Chemistry. The interesting thing is, whenever I complained about this teacher, most of my friends and peers would starkly disagree with me. They loved him. Thought he was great and excelled at his class and in maths and science in the future. But not me. In fact, not only did I not like him and the class, but I also really disliked myself for being so bad at the subject. My ego was hurt. So I avoided it throughout the rest of my schooling. Science and Math became this evil thing I didn’t want anything to do with. Who knows, maybe I could have been great at it, maybe I could be curing diseases or solving the world’s tech problems…Imagine if I’d just had the right person/people guiding me rather than being condescending towards me.

A Platform for Every Ego

At the Annenberg Space for Photography they set up a StoryCorps booth where you could sit in this mini recording studio inside of an airstream and record a podcast about your life. We need more of this, and less shutting each other out.

We know that people are not as black and white as we paint them to be. People are complicated. My teacher wasn’t being malicious towards me. In fact, he probably didn’t even realize how much it hurt. But that’s just it, isn’t it? This lack of compassion and empathy? Social Media has no room for tolerance. The line between good and evil is made concrete. It’s you against me. Us against them. If you hate them, simply unfollow. But how will this change anything? Trust me, I want to see changes in the status quo. I want those who are oppressed and suffering to be relieved of their pain. To be free, and experience the life I get to experience. They need to express themselves and share their stories of injustice. But we won’t be able to reach that justice by creating controversy after controversy. We are proud individuals. Today, more than ever social media has allowed our egos to expand to great heights. With such a vast target, it is very easy to strike an ego and cause it pain. I’m not saying we should make ourselves small, stop sharing opinions or hide from the world. Not at all. I wouldn’t be writing this blog post if I felt that way. All I ask is that we remind ourselves of how humans work. That woman who thinks a certain way that you don’t agree with, it’s because of how she was raised, because of her life experiences, and how she is treated. That doesn’t mean she can’t change the way she thinks. But she will never change if you yell at her and tell her she is worthless. Because her ego lives on a great big platform, and there are many voices that support her. Why should she change for you and risk hurting herself in the process?

She shouldn’t. She won’t. But she will if we both harness that empathy and compassion. If we share our stories rather than blame. If we speak from a place that does not see good and evil, but rather imperfect and repairable. As we all are, and always will be.